It was a little past noon as J.R. Richard checked on the 20 pounds of chitlins he was boiling in a pressure cooker on his back porch. He was supposed to be at a rally for Just Say No, the anti-drug organization, but he had overslept. He made himself comfortable on a well-worn brown couch and waited for some friends to stop by.

Before there was a Randy Johnson or a Roger Clemens or a Doc Gooden, there was a towering 6-foot-8 right-handed pitcher who threw so hard he could melt a radar gun and blew so many batters away they should have named a Hurricane after him. He was James Rodney Richard, J.R., and for a time in the late 1970s and part of 1980 when he was on the mound for the Houston Astros, there was no more dominating pitcher in baseball. Then, suddenly, he started complaining that he felt bad.

Before there was a Randy Johnson or a Roger Clemens or a Doc Gooden, there was a towering 6-foot-8 right-handed pitcher who threw so hard he could melt a radar gun and blew so many batters away they should have named a Hurricane after him. He was James Rodney Richard, J.R., and for a time in the late 1970s and part of 1980 when he was on the mound for the Houston Astros, there was no more dominating pitcher in baseball. Then, suddenly, he started complaining that he felt bad.

Shame! What purpose was served by publishing that ugly story of J.R. Richard. I love the L.A. Times, but I am very angry at you for portraying blacks in that image. It wasn't right in 1955 and it's equally wrong and archaic in 1987. WILLIAM H. BASS Los Angeles

My vote for Humanitarian of the Year goes to Enos Cabell. Enos displayed real dignity and courage when incriminating J. R. Richard while giving his testimony during the drug trial in Pittsburgh. J. R. Richard has been out of baseball for two years, recovering from a life-threatening stroke. It certainly was altruistic of Enos to come forward with a yet unmentioned name. Why not blacken the guy's name now that he is out of baseball? I wonder if Enos would have incriminated his own wife if she had been doing cocaine five years ago. RICHARD LEVINSON Encino

San Francisco Giant Manager Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith, Dodger hitting coach, relived their memories of 18 years ago, affectionately remembering the occasion as if it were yesterday. It was Oct. 2, 1977. The Dodgers had clinched the division title two weeks earlier, but now there was something else. Baker was stuck on 29 homers and needed one more to make the Dodgers the first team to have four players hit at least 30 homers, joining Smith, Ron Cey and Steve Garvey.

Shame! What purpose was served by publishing that ugly story of J.R. Richard. I love the L.A. Times, but I am very angry at you for portraying blacks in that image. It wasn't right in 1955 and it's equally wrong and archaic in 1987. WILLIAM H. BASS Los Angeles

It was a little past noon as J.R. Richard checked on the 20 pounds of chitlins he was boiling in a pressure cooker on his back porch. He was supposed to be at a rally for Just Say No, the anti-drug organization, but he had overslept. He made himself comfortable on a well-worn brown couch and waited for some friends to stop by.

The Seattle Mariners' Randy Johnson struck out 13 batters in 10 innings Sunday, and in doing so became the 12th pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season. Johnson got No. 300 when he struck out Ruben Sierra swinging in the ninth, then struck out Scott Lydy to end the 10th. The last pitcher to accomplish the feat was Nolan Ryan with 301 in 1989. Despite Johnson's 13-strikeout, 10-inning performance, the Oakland Athletics beat the Mariners, 3-2, in 12 innings.

San Francisco Giant reliever Kevin Rogers was recovering Thursday from surgery on a clotted shoulder artery, a dangerous condition that has affected other hard-throwing pitchers and in 1980 ended the career of J.R. Richard. On Wednesday, doctors at Stanford University Hospital tied off a blocked artery in Rogers' left shoulder, an operation that will keep him out of action for several weeks and could sidetrack his career.